The Chosen One
by delusionalklaroliner
Summary: AU/AH-ish? ** Caroline is the slayer. She moves to Sunnydale from Mystic Falls in the hopes of leaving the slaying behind. She meets the mysterious Klaus who warns her of The Master Silas and how he knows she's arrived in town. Can this new stranger be trusted? Can Caroline ignore being the Chosen One when people are dying left and right? ***more in depth summary to come***
1. 1- The Chosen One

**So, I wrote this while sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair and suffering from writer's block with Becoming.**

**I know I can hardly keep up with one story, let alone two, but I just had to get this out there.**

**If you've watched BTVS (my favorite show ever, if you haven't watched it, you should), you'll see a lot of parallels, but I've kinda made this the lovechild of BTVS and TVD.**

**Since JP seems to think she's the next Joss Whedon, I figured if JP (thinks she) can do it, why can't I?**

**Depending on the response, I will continue writing it.**

**Anyways, here ya go:**

* * *

_"Into every generation a slayer is born: _

_one girl in all the world, a chosen one. _

_She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampyres, daemons, _

_and the forces of darkness; _

_to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. _

_She is the Slayer."_

* * *

"Caroline Forbes?"

The girl in question felt every pair of eyes in the classroom land on her.

Shaking off the awkward feeling creeping up her face in a red wave, Caroline rose her hand, "Present."

The teacher smiled to her, removing his glasses, "Welcome to Sunnydale High School, Miss Forbes. I'm Mr. Saltzman. Why don't you tell us a little about yourself: where are you from?"

Flashes of red flames flared behind Caroline's eyes and she subconsciously clenched her hands into a fist.

"Hi… I'm from Mystic Falls, Virginia and I moved her with my mom for a new start… I guess."

Her classmates began to whisper around her, dissecting every facet of the 'new girl'.

"Well Caroline," Mr. Saltzman started, walking over to the board, "you came to the right place! Now. Let's travel back in time. Can anyone tell me something they know about Mesopotamia….? Anyone…? Anyone at all…? No? Alright. Page 543. Listen up young grasshoppers..."

Caroline looked around frantically, trying to spot a book under one of the desks.

"Here, we can share," a voice next to her uttered as a book slid across her desk.

"Thanks," Caroline responded, grinning at the olive-skinned girl with a mess of black curls.

* * *

"Oh come on Bon! How am I supposed to know what 'sigma' means?"

"Well Kol, if you stayed awake for more than five minutes in Stats, you would know!"

"Hey! I need my beauty sleep-"

"Kol! Hey Harris! Dude! Seen the new chick yet?" Tyler Forwood stormed over to where Kol Harris and Bonnie Bennett had been lounging on the front steps of the school, and collapsed in a heap, flinging his arm over Bonnie's, and stealing a carrot stick from the bag on her lap.

"Seriously?" she shrugged his arm off and shot him a look before burying her nose back in her math book.

"What new girl?" Kol asked, tossing a hacky sack into the air, only paying half attention to what Tyler had to say. 

"The only new girl since Trina Simmons in seventh grade? Dude where have you been! This chick is hot!"

"What does she look like?"

"Uhm… hot?"

Kol rolled his eyes, sharing a look with Bonnie, who held her hands open in a silent gesture for the hackey sack.

"She's in my history class, her name's Caroline," Bonnie piped in, never taking her eyes from her book, silently tossing the ball back and forth between two hands.

"Bonnie! You hold this precious information from us! What have I done to wrong you so?"

"Well Kol," Bonnie drew out, "Katherine scooped her up before Saltzman could get started on another 'there's no such thing as turning points' litany."

"Damn," both boys cursed, silently deflating into themselves.

"Uhm, are you Bonnie?"

Everyone's head whipped towards the new voice, surprised to see the subject of their conversation standing before them.

"For you I can be whoever you want," Tyler cooed, shamelessly eyeing the girl up and down.

"Ignore him. Everyone does. And yeah, I'm Bonnie. Do you need us to move?"

"Move? Uhm, no! I just heard you were the girl to go to for textbooks and whatnot."

"Yep. That's me," Bonnie deadpanned, tucking a stray lock behind her ear.

"Awesome, " Caroline exclaimed as she collapsed on the steps next to Kol, "you're in my history class right? By the way, I love that jacket, where'd you get it?"

"Well actually, my Grams-"

"So Caroline, tell us about yourself," Kol cut Bonnie off, stealing the hackey sack back from her.

"Well…uhh.. I'm from Mystic Falls, Virginia. I used to be a cheerleader, and I'm a big fan of that jacket. You were saying Bonnie?" Caroline flashed Kol a huge smile before turning back to Bonnie.

"Are they bothering you, Caroline? Just tell them to move. We normally sit in the cafeteria though, by the way, but you'll learn all the rules later."

Once again, everyone turned to where Katherine stood, her trademark sneer gracing her face and her blue-eyed jackass Damon hugging her hips.

"What? No, they're not bothering me at all?"

"Right… well that's disgusting. Anyway. I just wanted to let you know that the rest of the day is cancelled due to the major dead guy found in the girls locker room."

"Awesome! Kol, wanna hit up the skatepark, " Tyler asked as he stood up.

Kol spared a quick glance back at Caroline before nodding and following Tyler down the steps.

"How'd he die?" Caroline pressed, her demeanor shifting from bubbly to deadly serious in a flash.

"EW? Like I know? That's what the cops are for," Katherine made to move away, but Caroline shot up and grabbed her arm.

"Seriously? What the hell?"

Caroline glanced at her hand encasing the other girl's forearm, before quickly letting go and backing away, eyeing what looked like Katherine's boyfriend apologetically. He looked like the kind of guy who wasn't afraid to hit girls.

"Right. Sorry." Caroline turned back to Bonnie, who had started walking away. "Hey Bonnie, wait!"

Bonnie paused and turned back to Caroline, utter confusion written on her face.

"Aren't you gonna go with Katherine?"

"What? No? Look. I gotta go, can we maybe hang later?"

"Sure. We hang out at The Bronze every night. Just google it, it's not hard to find. See you around eight?"

Caroline nodded vigorously, "See you there!"

And then the blonde was storming back into the school.

"School's cancelled remember!" Bonnie hollered, but the other girl paid no attention.

* * *

Police tape crisscrossed the gym, preventing any law-abiding citizen from entering the active crime scene. Police officers converged at one end of the cavernous space, consoling three hysterical girls in various stages of undress. The blankets draped over their shoulders were clung to as if they were the very things keeping the girls from completely losing it.

Caroline watched all of the action unfold as she silently dove underneath the yellow tape and slipped into the girls' locker room. From what she could tell, the coroner had yet to arrive, giving her at least a five-minute window to inspect the corpse.

Her heartbeat remained steady as she approached the body that had been hastily covered with a couple damp towels.

"Please just be a dead body," she whispered as she exposed the figure from the chest up.

"Damn," she eyed two small puncture holes on the side of the guy's neck.

Fighting the wave of anger that flooded her, Caroline exited the gym and made her way out of the school and down the steps.

The sun still hung high in the sky, effectively ruling out any chances of nipping her new problem in the bud quickly. She would have to fashion a new stake anyway, having thrown her old ones out back in Mystic Falls. She had been done with this.

Now, instead of catching up to where Sunnydale High was in the curriculum, she would have to leave at sundown and-

"No!" she stopped in her tracks.

She would go to The Bronze. And then she would deal with the dead body.

It would be her last one.

* * *

The Bronze was actually a ten-minute walk from her house, or so google had said. Yet as Caroline walked down the desolate sidewalk, she swore it was taking twice that time.

Or maybe it was the hairs on the back of her neck that had been standing on end for the duration of the trip that made it seem as if time was slowing down. Whatever the case, she knew for certain that she was being followed.

Up ahead she saw the entrance of an alleyway and practically ran towards it. Seeing a fire escape above her, Caroline jumped, landing as quietly as she could. She forced her breathing to slow before waiting on the balls of her feet, ready to launch herself at her stalker once he showed himself.

Not even ten seconds had passed before a sandy head appeared below her.

Her descent was inaudible, and she had the man pinned to the ground before he could put up a fight.

"Why are you following me?"

He started laughing despite the hand she had encroaching upon his windpipe.

"Easy love, I'm a friend," he choked out, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Right. You have five seconds to convince me not to kill you."

Her focus zeroed in on his rosy lips, and she realized how attractive the man she, for all intents and purposes, was straddling.

With a shove, she pushed herself off of him, but blocked the entry of the alleyway, effectively blocking any escape attempt the guy might try. However, he seamed right at home, straightening the sleeves of the black Henley he was wearing.

Caroline noticed the array of necklaces hanging from his neck and made a mental note of the potential murder weapons if things got out of hand.

"Your time is up. Who are you?" She too, straightened out the sleeves of her burgundy leather jacket, but opted not to bother with her jeans, just in case it came to fisticuffs.

"Like I said, sweetheart, I'm a friend."

"Well, Mr. British Accent, friends don't stalk each other. What do you want?"

The man smiled as if her observation amused him, "Fine. We have a mutual enemy."

"Who?"

"Are you serious?"

"I don't have enemies," she feigned, really not wanting to be having this conversation.

'The dead body showing up on the first day you attend Sunnydale High begs to differ."

Every warning alarm in Caroline's head went off and her body arched into a fighting stance.

"How do you know that," she spat, watching his shoulders for any sign of movement. He remained perfectly still.

"It's the talk of the supernatural community here on the Hell Mouth. The Master was sending you a welcome basket of sorts."

"Master?"

"You might know him as Silas?" he began to pace, his hands clasped behind his back. His mannerisms reminded her of a wolf.

"Nope. Sorry. Look. I have to go. This has been f-"

"Before you kill that vamp tonight, let him speak. Whatever he says, your Watcher will know what he means."

"Right, because I'm going to take advice from some stranger in an alleyway."

Caroline made to walk away, trying to ignore the desire to question him about the Master guy. But she came to Sunnydale to forget all of that.

"By the way love, my name's Klaus. See you around, Caroline."

And he was gone.

"Great. Just great," Caroline sighed, trying her best to push the whole past couple of hours from her mind as she came up to the Bronze.

Hopefully Bonnie would be a potential friend. Because normal, non-slayer high school girls had friends.

Caroline Forbes was a normal, non-slayer high school girl.

The stake up her sleeve grew heavy on her arm.

* * *

**If this is something people want to read, I will include a more in depth synopsis in the next chapter.**

**So, what did you think?**

**Reviews actually really encourage me to write and write faster.**

**tumblr: sunnydalecalifornia**


	2. 2- Eye See You

**A/N: Okay! Here's chapter two! I apologize if it's full of errors and sounds jumpy- I wrote it in my Bio Lab class lol**

**Anyways, I will probably be updating this every other week. My other story needs some time as well. Once I figure out how to balance the two, the updates might be quicker!**

**Okay here ya go:**

* * *

"So, to reiterate: every subset of fantasy literature portrays dragons in the same way. The dragons of Pern are different than the dragons of Alagaesia are different than the dragons of The Targaryen Reign. End of discussion!"

Kol shoved another handful of bloomin' onion in his mouth, grinning in triumph. Bonnie returned the smile, a hand darting forward to snare some of the deep-fried yumminess.

"You forget that all of the examples you listed are all different versions of the same thing, so, in reality I win. You lose. Again." She punctuated her words with a hearty bite of the onion.

Kol rolled his eyes and let his head fall to the table, "You insufferable creature!"

"What's up with him?"

Kol's head jerked up so fast he almost fell from his barstool.

He eyed the newly arrived Caroline with a weary eye, unsure if her words were malicious or not. However, he found his eyes lowering from her face to her neck and further down.

"What's up with me? What about you? Decide to roll stomp around in the muck before gracing us with your presence?"

The blonde glanced down to see sandy blotches patterned across her brand new jeans. Her distaste for her "friend" Klaus only grew at the sight of her ruined pants.

He smiled to take the harshness from his words, hoping she wasn't overly sensitive.

"Oh Kol, you noticed! When I fraternize with cavemen, I try to dress the part," she smirked his way before pulling up a chair across from Bonnie, "I gotta say… I didn't expect this."

Bonnie nodded vigorously, taking a long pull from her Shirley Temple before responding, "I know right? It's a one-Starbucks town so the function of this place has to be diverse.

Caroline scanned the room, taking in the unique environment. The area around them consisted of hightops, lounge chairs and secluded booths. A band played at the back of the room, creating a low din for the people grinding away on the dance floor before the stage. The bar to the right gave way to a low counter displaying various baked goods and an expensive looking espresso machine. Through a window on the wall she could see two men clad in hairnets talking animatedly as they flipped burgers.

"It sure is something else," she laughed as she picked up a menu, "What's good here?"

"Blooming onion!" Kol and Bonnie shouted in unison. After a brief stare down they laid a fist onto upturned palms.

"Old school," Bonnie queried.

Kol nodded and a rapid-fire game of Rock, Paper Scissors ensued, with Bonnie claiming victory over the third round. She brought her fist onto Kol's fingers, "Rock beats scissors. Buy Caroline's bloomin' onion."

With a grumble he stormed off, leaving the two girls alone.

"Wow. You guys sure are something else," Caroline observed, putting down her menu.

"Yeah. When you've known someone since kindergarten, it gets kinda weird."

Both girls laughed, sharing a warm smile.

"Thanks for inviting me, by the way. I was having serious nightmares over not finding any friends."

"Friends?" Bonnie's eyes widened in surprise.

"I mean- Well- I hope we can be friends," Caroline interjected, silently cursing her presumptuous comment.

"Oh! No! I didn't mean it like that. I just meant… I thought you only accepted to be nice, seeing as you and Katherine…"

Caroline's brow furrowed, "That's the second time you said that. Is there some rule here that I can't be friends with you both?"

A laugh escaped Bonnie's lips; "Katherine set her sights on you. If Katherine shows an interest in anything, everyone who values their lives backs away."

It was Caroline's turn to laugh out loud, "Oh wow. She sounds like the kind of person I used to be friends with. But I guess I'm the exception because I'm sitting here with you and Kol while she's all but dry-humping Intense Eyes out on the dance floor."

Katherine had waved to her as Caroline entered the club, but after seeing the brunette practically engaging in an act of voyeurism on the floor, Caroline had pretended not to see.

Bonnie cocked her head to the side and pondered Caroline's words.

"So you used to be friends with bitches with egos the size of their hair?"

"Hell, I used to be one of those girls!"

"What changed?" Bonnie took another sip from her drink.

_"Are you Caroline Forbes?"_

_Caroline looked up from where her and her best friend Elena were stretching in preparation for cheer practice. A man in a fedora and trenchcoat looked down at them._

_"Uh, yeah? Can I help you?"_

_The two girls stared a creeped out look, before returning their attention to the man._

_"You are the Chosen One."_

_Caroline guffawed, "Well thanks. Prom's not til next month, but thanks for the-"_

_"You must train. You are the only one who can kill the vampyres and daemons. You must rid the evil scourge from the earth."_

_"Whoa! Okay freakazoid," Caroline stood and pointed to the opposite end of the field, "The hospital is that way. I recommend checking yourself in to the psych ward. Now that I've performed a random act of kindness, you can leave."_

_Elena stood as well and grabbed Caroline's hand, leading her away from the creep._

"I guess I just realized that nail polish and terrorizing underclassmen weren't important."

"Okay ladies! One bloomin onion and a coke- you look like a coke girl Care," Kol winked at his not so subtle innuendo, "now eat up! We have to at least attempt to pass that Stats quiz tomorrow."

Caroline stared at the two people in front of her that were seamlessly incorporating them into their lives. She could see herself sitting here with them every night, bantering and studying over greasy food.

For the remainder of the night she laughed and attempted to teach Kol how to find z-scores. Bonnie finally told her where she got her jacket and they planned a shopping trip.

When the alarm on her phone went off at eleven-thirty, it was hard to leave her new friends, but, if she wanted this to work, she'd have to take care of one more thing.

* * *

The city morgue was much like the one back in Mystic Falls; blasé 'Morgue' written across a windowless door, rows of stainless steel doors hiding corpses that awaited a final resting.

Or, in this case, corpses that wanted a midnight snack.

As the door clicked shut behind her, Caroline could hear him starting to stir from within one of the "cabinet caskets"- as she liked to call them- on the second row.

"You're late."

Caroline screamed at the top of her lungs, and whirled around.

A man in an Armani suit leaned against one of the exam tables with his arms folded across his chest. He looked to be in his mid-thirties with short brown hair that fell just shy of his eyes. The glare he gave her did nothing but fuel her adrenaline induced fight-or-flight responses.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Elijah. You're Caroline. And you're late. He's been moving around in there for fifteen minutes."

_Oh come on_, she groaned internally, reaching for her phone in her back pocket. Feeling nothing but smooth denim, Caroline frowned; _I must have left it back at the Bronze…_

"First of all, what's up with everyone in this town knowing who I am and stalking me; second of all, a name does not tell me who you are."

Elijah sighed and pinched the bridged between his eyes, "You're the slayer. I'm your Watcher. Leaving Mystic Falls without so much as an "adios" to Giles broke every Council protocol in the book."

"Wrong. I _used_ to be the slayer. I quit. Or did Giles not fill you in on what happened that made me leave?"

This was _so _not what she needed right now. The sound of metal hinges turning tore her gaze from "her watcher".

"This is my last slay. Once I'm done here, find someone else. Now excuse me."

A hand reached up to grasp the upper wall of the body drawer, and within seconds the body she had found dead only hours ago was pulling itself to a standing position.

Once erect, the newly waked vampire sniffed the air, and Caroline knew he smelled her blood.

"Slayer," the vamp hissed as it turned to face her.

"Look, I have a stats test tomorrow, can we just skip the chit-chat and get on with the staking?"

The stake secured up the sleeve of her jacket slid to her hand and she dipped into a fighting stance. The vamp grinned and it's face morphed from that of a human boy's to that of the demon now residing within the corpse.

Without warning the vamp lunged toward her and pulled her into him by the shoulders. She drilled a knee into his crotch and grabbed his neck as he collapsed into himself.

"Excuse me," she muttered to Elijah, and proceeded to slam the vamp onto the exam table. With her free hand, Caroline went to jam the stake into it's heart when Klaus's words rang in her ears.

A hairsbreadth away from breaking skin, she paused, "You have a message for me?"

"I am one of many, and we will descend upon this earth like a flood. When blood flows as water does, he shall rise. You shall go to him and the Master will walk the earth once-"

Caroline watched as he turned to dust before her eyes.

"My god he was boring," she exclaimed, clapping the dust off of her hands.

"Why did you do that?" Elijah roared, looming over her.

She shoved him away and skirted towards the door, "Look. You heard the important part. The only way this Master guy – Silas, by the way- can rise is if I come to him. Seeing as I don't plan to, this whole conversation is pointless. Now, I'm leaving. Good luck with the new girl!"

Whatever retort Elijah yelled at her was met with a closing door. A smile graced her lips as she skipped down the sidewalk towards her home.

* * *

When she arrived at her front door, she caught sight of a small white box sitting inside one of the potted plants her mother obsessed over.

Curious, Caroline knelt down before the pot and picked the box up. Something wet seeped between her fingers and onto her knee.

Red.

Every cell in her body became hyperaware and still as she slowly opened the box. Nestled on a bed of white satin was a pair of eyes. Frigid blue eyes still tethered to a set of nerves watched a scream form on her lips and erupt into the air as she flung the box aside.

One of the orbs deflated as it hit the door and fell between the welcome mat and doorstop. Caroline fell on her butt and scrambled backwards as fast as possible. Her heart beat like a hummingbird's wings within her chest.

"No, no, no, no…" she kept whispering it even as her mother stormed out of the door, barely missing the eye as she knelt in front of her frantic daughter.

"Caronlie, sweetie, what's wr… oh my god," Liz Forbes caught sight of the discarded gift and flung a hand to her mouth.

This seemed to snap Caroline from her stupor, "Mom, we need to get inside."

The shock melted away and the girl pulled her mother to her feet and ushered her in the house, locking the door for a semblance of safety. It was futile, but her mom didn't know that.

"We need to call the police," Liz mumbled under her breath.

There was no point in Caroline pointing out that calling the police wasn't going to do anything, so she watched as her mother explained in broken spurts what she had witnessed. As if dismembered eyes were so scary. Because no, no they weren't, not after you've seen what Caroline's seen.

The message was loud and clear: she was being watched. The disturbing part was the eyes themselves: she had seen them for the first time today, on the steps of the school. If Katherine's boyfriend was now, most like, dead, did Katherine share the same fate?

At this point, Caroline barely knew much more than the name of the guy behind all of this. Silas was letting her know that it didn't matter what celestial body was ruling the sky: she was on his radar.

Looks like she'd have to talk to her watcher after all. If this Silas was as big a threat as he seemed, the Watcher's Council would have some knowledge of him.

Actually, the only person who had given her any information worth using was Klaus. Caroline glanced at the clock on the wall, frowning at how late it was. Great. She would have to get at least three hours of sleep in order to function, and there was nothing she could do now.

After news of what happened tonight hit the streets, she was positive Klaus would find her.

He had some explaining to do.

* * *

School was freakishly normal. It appeared that the students of Sunnydale High were desensitized to such occurrences.

Apparently there was only one body missing it's eyes last night, so when the police arrived at her house, Caroline was consoled over the disturbing and twisted "prank" played by whoever did it, but also thanked for saving the police force from a manhunt for the missing body parts.

Damon Salvatore, as she learned and heard his name a billion times over the following hours, was the star quarterback and resident asshole of the school. The principal recited vaguely on how such a "star student and cornerstone of what it means to be a Razorback would be missed".

Katherine cried for half the day, using every opportunity she could to keep the attention on "her loss". Caroline quickly decided she had not a care in the world for the girl.

Aside from one overhead-speaker announcement that grief counseling was available in the guidance office, everyone seemed to be in pretty good spirits.

Luckily, Bonnie shared not only History, but also French and English Literature with Caroline. She praised the heavens above that her and Bonnie were both in advanced courses and that they had so much in common; they always had a conversation going, giving Caroline little time to dwell on thoughts of being watched.

There was only one class so far that she was able to fully stare down all of her classmates, until she realized how paranoid she was being. If she were focused on whom the informant might be, she would miss some obvious clue that could help her take this Silas guy down.

By lunchtime, all talk of the murder had died down, for which Caroline was thankful. She was glad the police opted to leave her name out of the news: being the new girl was hard enough without being the new girl who found body parts.

Kol slumped down on the steps between Bonnie and Caroline, sighing as though he had suffered unimaginable woe. Which, after hearing his commentary on how insufferable his stats professor was, whom she had the displeasure of having first thing in the morning, Caroline could understand his misery.

"Just be thankful you have him after lunch, my dear Bon. He's more tolerable after he's had his fill of crushed teenage souls."

The two girls rolled their eyes, and resumed their discussion on which mall in the area was the best for their upcoming excursion.f

"Oh I almost forgot!" Kol whipped something out of his bag and hid it behind his back, "I have a gift for you, Care," he exalted impishly.

_Red. Eyes. Watching you. _

"Oh god! Don't look so scared, here," he held out her phone, "you left this at the Bronze last night. I took the liberty of adding Bonnie and I to your contacts. You can find me under 'Love of My Life'."

As she perused her phone to make sure Kol didn't do anything freaky, she noticed a missed call and voicemail from an unknown number.

_"There's a lovely mausoleum in the northeast corner of Yellowwood Cemetary. Look for the weeping angel. Let's say you meet me there at sundown. We have much to discuss, love."_

Klaus. She was going to hang up when he started speaking again:

"_Oh, and dress like a slayer, not some cheap charlatan. See you tonight. Can't wait._"

Who the hell does this guy think he is? Caroline tossed the phone in her bag, utterly disgusted.

"What's wrong?"

Caroline looked up from her bag, plastering a smile on her face. The expression on Kol's face looked concerned, which completely threw her off. The kid had a good heart, which was refreshing after the conversation she just had.

"I won't be able to make it out tonight. I have to have dinner with my mom," _Damn Caroline, what a smooth liar you've become_.

"That's cool, Care. I think I can tolerate Kol for one more night without you. Any longer though and I don't think I could make it."

_Care._

Everyone laughed, even Caroline, even though her heart was constricting and she could feel a sob at the back of her throat.

Elena called her Care. And she would never hear that nickname from that mouth ever again.

_All right Forbes, pull it together._

"What class do you have after lunch?" Bonnie smiled, pulling her stats book out of her bag.

"I have Econ with Briar, Bio with Tsiliki, and Art with Smith," Caroline recited, trying to recall _where_ the classes were.

"Yay! We have Bio together. You'll really love Tsiliki: her labs aren't the same you've been doing since middle school."

"And we have the remaining two together!"

Kol flashed a grin towards Caroline- who couldn't help but respond- and pointed a stern finger at Bonnie; "I was beginning to think you were hogging our girl Care here. Didn't we learn about sharing years ago?"

He shook his head before standing and holding a hand towards Caroline, "Come now. We must leave our scholar here to cram in another fifteen minutes of unnecessary studying. We can use this time to give you a quick tour of where the coldest water fountains are."

"Okay! Sounds like a plan!" She took his hand and gathered her belongings, saying a quick bye to Bonnie, who already had a nose to her book.

_That's what a normal high school girl looks like, _Caroline thought drily as she followed Kol, _thinking about permutations and probability, not weapons and forces of evil._

* * *

There was a part of her that considered not going. She almost called Bonnie and told her she'd be at the Bronze. She almost forgot about her duties as The Slayer- The Chosen One.

Still, Caroline would show up once the sun was completely down. She would wear whatever the hell she felt like wearing. She would kick this guy's ass…. Okay maybe not that, but she would take the term "staring daggers" to the next level.

If he knew anything that could help her, she needed to play nice. There was a lot she didn't know about Klaus and Silas or the Master or whoever he was.

Afterwards, she would have to find Elijah. Turns out his pompous British services were need after all.

Letting out an audible sigh, Caroline kicked a piece of headstone that had crumbed off over the years. The weight of what this rendezvous meant weighed heavily on her. There was no in between with slaying: this would be her putting all hands in and saying, "Let's go team!"

"I didn't think you'd show,"

Klaus appeared at the side of the mausoleum, wearing a frown.

"Well, after the lovely message you left me, I couldn't very well turn you down now could I?"

"You listened to the voicemail," he eyed her up and down, "but you apparently heard only half the message."

Embarrassed, Caroline gave herself a quick once over. She had dressed simply: thick black leggings and a tank top that she may or may not have chosen because it showed _just enough_ of tummy to cause eyes to linger- but she was wearing a zip-up hoodie!

"Do you find my outfit not to your liking," she rose an eyebrow at him. She honestly tried to sound pissed off, but she caught his eyes raking her over and she was suddenly _almost_ flirting. What was wrong with her?

"It's very distracting. You're trying to stake vamps, not seduce them," he sounded disgusted, but she had seen him.

Klaus was very attractive when it came to looks, she could admit that much, despite his horrid personality.

"You're the only one here obsessed with what I'm wearing. Now, could we please get to business," she sat atop a tombstone and fiddled with the stake she brought along.

"I heard about your gift," he moved to stand in front of her, crossing his arms and widening his stance.

"Yeah. I got the message loud and clear. This Silas guy is letting me know that no one is safe. He's watching me. What I want to know is what is he aiming for?"

Klaus nodded in agreement, "First things first, what did that vamp say before you staked it?"

"Before he got so incredibly annoying that I had to stake him for my own piece of mind," her tone lost it's joking lilt, "he talked about how he was one of many. Then about blood flowing as water and how I'm supposed to go to the Master-"

Klaus rushed forward, grabbing her arms in his, like a parent would with a troublesome child.

"You must not go to him, Caroline. Whatever he does or says, you will not go to him."

"Seriously? I'm not an idiot," she shoved him away, "And I would appreciate some insight here! Why is he so scary? Why is it that I, the slayer, have no idea what I'm up against?"

The rough texture of her perch scraped her palms as she launched herself to a standing position.

"And why was he at my house Klaus? Someone watched me all day and was smart…" she was pacing, whacking the stake against her thigh nervously. The flood of emotion she had been feeling finally broke through her defense, and not even the fact that she didn't want to share this with Klaus could stop her.

"I had only interacted with that Damon guy ONCE, and they knew that I would know that. They could have picked Bonnie or Kol or my mom, but they picked him. They were at my house and I wasn't there to protect my mom..."

_WHACK!_

Her stake fell to the ground and she brought a hand to her throbbing cheek. Klaus had slapped her!

His eyes bore into hers and there was compassion in them.

"You need to pull yourself together. Hyperventilating in a graveyard won't do you any good. We need to think of a plan."

He had slapped her!

"Caroline, stop glaring at me, love," he picked up her stake and held it out to her.

Caroline burst out laughing, "oh my god, this is my life." She gasped between giggles.

"I don't understand," Klaus queried, looking slightly offended.

"Look at us!"

And he did. Well, he looked at her at least, a slight smirk on his face.

"Oh trust me, I see you…" his words were heavy and intense and so full of innuendo. They stared at each other for a brief moment before he sauntered towards the mausoleum, "you look like a madwoman waving a stake around a graveyard while _laughing_," he looked back towards her, a full-blown smile on his face.

It looked so out of place on him. A smile. He shouldn't smile? Neither of them should be smiling…

"You're right," Caroline sobered immediately, "what does he want, Klaus?"

"If you go to him, Silas will ascend to our world and bring the Apocalypse with him."

"Oh."

And here she thought split-ends were the end of the world.

"We should probably go talk to your Watcher," Klaus suggested, pulling his phone out to glance at the time.

"Right. We should probably find him first," she looked around, as if the path leading to Elijah would suddenly appear to her.

"My god, you are quite possibly the worst slayer ever," Klaus spat, rolling his eyes at her.

"Alright, seriously, what is your problem?"

Caroline spun on him, jabbing a finger into his chest.

"I am sixteen years old. My biggest worry a year ago was whether or not I would be Prom Queen. How would you feel if some creepy dude came up to you and said you were The Chosen One and your life went from late night football games to late night vampire patrols? I don't want this. I have no choice anymore."

He swiped her hand off of him, holding it in his hand.

"You are the only one who can stop this. It's a shitty situation, love. But you need to suck it up and deal. I won't have my ass getting killed because it's tough being the Slayer."

He threw her hand aside, and they continued walking in the direction of the school, choosing not to pursue the topic.

"Besides," Klaus interjected randomly, "I've never seen you slay. So what is my opinion anyway?"

They stopped walking, and Caroline narrowed her eyes at his obvious challenge.

"Fine. Let's go find a vamp. If my skills live up to your standards, you have to buy coffee."

"Coffee?" Klaus laughed at her absurd stakes.

"Yes, coffee. If we're going to be patrolling, I will need coffee."

The smirk returned to his face as he held out his hand, "Deal."

Caroline grasped his hand and shook it, "Deal."

As they walked throughout the cemetery, it dawned on Caroline that Klaus was the only ally she had in this- the only one who knew what she did in the wee hours of the night, and she knew next to nothing about him.

Who was this guy?

* * *

**How am I doing so far? **

**Let me know!**


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